Professional wrestling has never been known for it’s ethics or moral standards. Maybe the business is true to its origins on the carnival circuit so deception or underhandedness is baked into the fabric of the industry. Maybe it’s because most pro wrestling operations, at least on a lower level, are usually a cash business, and there will always be shady characters that try to circle around any cash business to find a loophole to grab a piece of the pie. It might simply be a part of any live entertainment industry, as we’ve seen similar pitfalls throughout the entertainment platform from the grueling demands of the schedule.
Sports entertainment offers hope, inspiration, and thrills. On the other end of the spectrum, the business, sometimes even knowingly, has promoted murders, drug addicts, and con artists. I’m not sure what that says about the fans that idolize some of those people. Given how obnoxious the general public is, specifically with the advancement of technology with smart phones that will undoubtedly cause the downfall of society, I wasn’t surprised when there were a series of stories that made the rounds online of wrestlers getting mobbed at the hotels by overzealous wrestling fans. With Wrestlemania 42 being held in Las Vegas and the talent hotel being in a casino, it was more difficult to restrict access to areas like the parking lot or lobby. A video of Randy Orton surfaced where he seemed to handle the situation as gracefully as he could as people swarmed him for any type of interaction.
The major news that made headlines on a few mainstream media outlets, including TMZ, is an incident where Bayely was seen hugging AJ Lee as a fan was recording their interaction on his phone. As the phone got closer to the two female grapplers, Bayely can be heard asking the fan to back up before CM Punk smacked the phone out of the guy’s hand. Hotel security and longtime friend, Ace Steele stepped in to defuse the situation before Punk left the lobby.
Now, I have been and will continue to be the first person to point out that I think CM Punk is a self-absorbed, insincere jerk, albeit a very talented jerk, but he was absolutely right in this situation. Phony Phil was okay with the Saudi money as long as it was going in his pocket, he’s disingenuous, not a martyr, not matter how much he wants to try to push that narrative. That being said, I completely agree with the action he took and it was probably the only way to resolve the situation.
There are many things that make me shake my head about what type of mutants stalk pro wrestlers at the airport, or in this case at their hotels. What kind of empty life do these yo-yos have that they can spent hours at the food court to wait for wrestlers to go to baggage claim. Is it really that important to get 15 Pop Funkos signed? As far as the Las Vegas situation, let’s look at this from purely an objective standpoint before we even consider the common courtesy of the scenario. As we know, TKO has monetized the WWE brand to a nauseating degree, to the point that it makes you wonder if it could backfire and sour some fans on the product, but the point is, for the right price, fans can get access to the stars. I’m still not sure how some crypto yokel got to sit at the announce table during a bout at Wrestlemania, particularly because crypto is more of a work than pro wrestling, but the point is, On Location, the organization that handles a lot of the premium experiences for WWE. charges thousands of dollars for those perks. In short, if fans truly want to meet the stars in a normal manner, they can purchase tickets to do so at the Wrestlemania week events. Yes, the pricing is often outrageous, but the point being, it’s not as simple as a talent signing an autograph in the lobby, as the wrestlers rarely do free promotional appearances now since there are so many other ways for the company to push the product, but rather if Randy Orton is willing to reward the stalker in the lobby at 1 AM with a free autograph, what does that say for the fans that paid for the signature through the proper channels?
I’d like to make this portion completely clear, if you happen to bump into LA Knight at a gas station and want to say hello, there’s really no harm done because a chance meeting doesn’t cross any personal lines. It’s much different when autograph leeches have to research what flights are leaving from where or following a talent to their hotel. The situation is simple, would any of the people that think they are entitled to record or follow wrestlers around be fine with it if someone else recorded them while they were at their jobs?
I don’t want to hear any counterpoint about it being in public so technically the fans have the right to record or approach talent. Just because something would be allowed in the most technically of interpretations, that doesn’t make it polite or dismiss the notion of common courtesy not to invade someone else’s personal space. Just because these borderline stalkers are allowed to camp out in a lobby to ask for autographs doesn’t mean that they should.
As far as the guy that got his phone smacked, he got what he deserved. If this eventually costs CM Punk an iPhone so be it, the “fan” needed a reality check. Based on the video, it looks like this guy was a fully functional adult that thought he was entitled to record two females so he got put in check. Unless there was some type of cognitive impairment, and there doesn’t look like there was, nor would there be a way for any of the talent to determine that when the lobby was mobbed with fans, there was no excuse for this “fan” to get closer to the female talent with his phone. Again, Punk was in the right, and the yo-yo recording got what he deserved. Supposedly, TMZ got anonymous comments from the fan in the video and he claimed that he wanted an apology from CM Punk, which is absolutely ridiculous. If anything, I’d guess the “outrage” from the fan is nothing more than an attempt to get something free from the WWE.
I say this because the incidents like this are becoming more frequent, and we’ve seen how they can escalate to a dangerous level, such as with the Sonya Deville situation a few years ago. I sincerely hope that I’m wrong, but unless there’s a major effort to enforce boundaries between fans and the talent going forward, it’s very possible that a scenario like this could also became dangerous. What happens when a drunk fan thinks they can harass a female performer or wants to play tough guy to try to fight a wrestler? Keep in mind, in the social media age, they are always morons looking for their 15 minutes of fame with a viral clip.
It goes without saying that fans shouldn’t stalk wrestlers at the airport or follow them to their hotels, but somehow it still has to be said. Fandom shouldn’t void common courtesy or common sense. We’ve seen wonderful clips of interactions with fans at the arena or in the parking lot before a show, which is fine because it’s a place where fans can reasonable expect to see the wrestlers, and the wrestlers know that fans are going to be there. It allows the talent to decide if they have time or want an interaction with the fans, whereas finding them away from the arena puts them in a situation where they don’t have a choice for an interaction. Part of the reason that it was wonderful to see the video of Bray Wyatt come into the parking lot of the arena to take a picture with a fan is that you saw how he took an extra minute to make someone’s day. John Cena stopping to shake a young fan’s hand in the arena is heartwarming because that brief interaction showed that Cena knew how much it would mean to the youngster. Rhea Ripley meeting fans that dressed up like her is so cool because you can see how much she appreciates the fans support. However, the biggest difference is that the setting of the arena or a meet and greet are places that don’t invade the performers’ personal time. Again, I seriously wonder what type of people think its okay or fun to stalk pro wrestling, but considering these are the same fans that would bow to Vince McMahon if he returned to television, it’s not too surprising that they ignore common courtesy around the roster.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89